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Legal French Expression
| Meaning | (event of) force majeure, case of absolute necessity | |
| Literally | case of great(er) force | |
| Register | normal | |
| Pronunciation |  |
[kah deu fuhrs mah zheur] |
| IPA | [ka də fɔʁs ma ʒœʁ] | |
Usage notes: There are hundreds of French expressions commonly used in English, but their meanings usually get distorted somewhere along the way. That’s not the case with un cas de force majeure, which has two distinct meanings in both languages. The only difference is that in English, the expression is shortened to just "force majeure."
1. Contract law and business
A man-made disaster (e.g., vandalism, arson, strike, terrorism) or natural disaster (flooding, tornado, earthquake, lightning strike) which is unforeseen and/or unavoidable, and which may invalidate a contract.
Par exemple…
En cas de force majeure, le contrat de travail du salarié peut être rompu sans avoir à suivre une procédure particulière. Le salarié peut percevoir des indemnités sous certaines conditions.
In the event of force majeure, the employee’s work contract can be terminated without having to follow any particular procedure. The employee may receive compensation under certain conditions.
Source: Service-Public.frToute annulation du fait du client doit obligatoirement nous être transmise par écrit, elle entraînera des frais d’annulation (sauf cas de force majeure).
Any cancellation by the client must be submitted to us in writing and will entail cancellation fees (except in case of force majeure).
Source: Corsicatours (PDF)
2. International and military law
An incident or disaster (e.g., a hurricane) that allows something to happen (a plane to land without permission) that would normally be considered an act of aggression.
Somewhat synonymous
- une catastrophe naturelle – natural disaster, act of God
(It’s only partly synonymous since force majeure includes both natural and man-made disasters.)
Related French vocabulary
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